According to the NY Times, Barnes and Noble has put their foot down when it comes to selling Amazon books in their brick and mortar stores.  Read the entire article here. 

What does this mean for authors?  Will you still consider publishing through CreateSpace?  Would love to hear your thoughts.

In a few weeks, everything on your Facebook profile, plus your photos, everything you’ve ever “Liked”, everything you’ve ever posted and more will be available unless you tell Facebook otherwise.   For more information on this important privacy change, go to this Techlicious blog post.

What’s the best way to get fans to “Like” your Facebook page other than blatantly asking them to or bribing them with a prize?  In a study of 10,000 Facebook fans done by Roost.com, they found that photos generate 50% more impressions than any other type of content.  Next, are quotes which provide 22% more interactions that any other content.  Questions results in two times the number of comments than any other post type.  On Twitter, quotes and retweets rule.  You can read the details of the survey findings here. 

Roost also offers a free social networking tool to help you plan and execute your activities across Facebook and Twitter, which could save you considerable time and energy. You can also run a free Roost Local Scorecard evaluation of your Facebook fanbase.

If you’ve been thinking about publishing an ebook, but have been intimidated by the formatting requirements for Kindle, you’re in luck.  The new Kindle Format 8 (KF8)  not only allows for simpler formatting, it has added features like the ability to highlight text,  show text wrapped images, bullet point lists, tables and more.  Here’s a link to the Simplified Formatting Guide.  

If you have a print or ebook on Amazon, you are eligible to set up an author profile page.  This is accessed from the “More About the Author” section of your book sales pages.  Here’s a look at my author profile.

To set up your own profile, you must sign up at Amazon Author Central.  You’ll be prompted to identify your book(s) and respond to a verification email, then you’re ready to go.  You can upload your photo, enter your blog feed address and publicize upcoming events.  Take advantage of this great marketing tool!

Thanks to Dana Lynn Smith, author of How to Sell More Book on Amazon, for this tip.

The minute you write a book, you’re in business. And if you want to have a successful business, you must think like a business person. What does that mean? First you need to establish a budget. If your goal is to publish yourself, you’ll need to decide how much you are willing to spend (assuming you want a print book) to achieve the end result.  Ask yourself if you’ll need to hire a book designer.  A professional editor?  Do some online research on typical costs for these services.

Next, how much will you allot for marketing the book once it’s published?  Will you do it all yourself, or hire people to do it for you? Will you want a publicist or just someone to write and distribute a press release?  Obviously, your budget won’t be hard and fast in the beginning, but at least you’ll have some ballpark figures.  Once you begin to spend money, these expenditures can be set off against your budget in a simple Excel spreadsheet.

I’m always amazed at how many authors don’t project or monitor their costs.  If getting your book to market takes several years, the expense can really mount up.  And most importantly, how will you know when you’ve made a profit if you don’t know how much you’ve spent? 

Remember, writing is a business and should be treated as such.

What do visitors see when they view your blog or website?  The general rule is that the first view of your home page should capture the reader’s attention without having to scroll or click, so that they’ll spend more time on your site. To find out what they see, visit Google Browser Size application and enter your blog or website’s URL.  Click on About Browser Size for more detailed information.  

I’d like to introduce you to Doug Simpson, a fellow author whose debut novel, Soul Awakening, was released last October in the U.S.  If you’ve ever been fascinated by past lifetimes or reincarnation, you’ll want to check out Doug’s book.  Here is a link to a recent interview with Doug on Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog.

A big thank you to Dee Owen for posting my interview in her blog, Mum’s Writings, Mystery and More.

Take a look at Writer Beware’s most notable posts of 2011.  This watchdog group provides an invaluable service to us writers.